The Lost Piece
by VillainousBlogger
Summary: It's been 30 years since Stan had started working on that machine. But what is its purpose? One day Dipper and Mabel, after finding Grunkle Stan's behavior more weird than usual on a certain day, they resolve to find out what had happened and how they can help. But will it be too much for them to handle? Twin-theory themed story
1. Chapter 1

It was a typical evening at the Mystery Shack. Soos and Wendy had gone home once their shifts were done, Grunkle Stan was watching TV in the living room, and the Pines' Twins were cleaning up after helping in the shack for the day. Dipper was cleaning off the dust from his clothes while Mabel was washing her hair. It was exhausting but worth it for Dipper since he could study more of the journal at night. Sometimes he could study it more on times when the shack was closed. Well, if Stan didn't saddle them with chores for the day.

"Alright," Dipper sighed, "Let's see what Grunkle Stan has in store for tomorrow." He looked at the calender on his side of the room. "Huh. The shack is gonna be...closed?"

Mabel had come out of the shower at that time. "A day off? Neat!" She exclaimed, shaking her head like a dog. "Ack! Mabel!" Dipper shouted, trying to block the water from getting on the journal. "Oops. Sorry," she grinned.

Dipper only shrugged. "It's okay Mabel. I'm just wondering why on a Saturday, where there'd be more tourists to come around than ever, Stan would keep the place closed."

"Why don't we ask?" Mabel brought up. "Never hurts to."

Dipper nodded. "You're right," he agreed, "But we'll need to be subtle about it. I'll go take a shower and then we can ask him."

One Dipper had showered and they were both in their pajamas, the two of them slowly crept downstairs and towards the living room. "Okay, I'll do the talking," Dipper whispered while Mabel held onto Waddles. They walked into the room and saw Stan was watching an old chick-flick (he apparently started getting into them) and drinking soda. It took a bit for him to notice the twins.

"Hey kids!" he grinned, "We sold a lot of junk today! Man it feels good being me!"

Dipper chuckled weakly. "Yeah, it was a good day. So what do you wanna do tomorrow?" Stan gave him a confused look. "Whatdya mean?" he asked. "W-Well it's just that the shack is closed tomorrow so I was wondering if you had plans for us. Y'know, family stuff?" Dipper couldn't read the look on his uncle's face before he took another swig of soda.

"Nah. Nothin' sappy like that. Why don't you two go into town and hang out or something." he offered. "That's so nice!" Mabel replied, giving her uncle a hug before running upstairs with Waddles trotting along behind her. Dipper glanced between where his sister and his uncle before speaking again. "Yeah, thanks Grunkle Stan," he smiled before turning to leave.

"Take care of her, alright?"

Dipper stopped to look back at his uncle who buried his face in a magazine. He was hiding something but Dipper knew he wasn't going to get anything out of him now. "I will," he replied before walking off.

Stan peeked from behind his magazine, making sure Dipper had gone upstairs before setting it down.

"Good."


	2. Chapter 2

It was a cool summer morning and the kids were shooed out of the shack early on. Stan had some work that he wanted to get done so he dropped them off at the diner for breakfast. "I'll be back around five. Don't do anything I wouldn't kids!" He gave a wink and a laugh before driving off.

The two ordered their meals from Lazy Susan and while they waited, Mabel thought out loud about some things they could do for the day while Dipper began to think about last night.

Stan specifically closed the Mystery Shack today; why? He was acting weirder than usual. Again, why? Is something important about today to Stan? If so, what? And from what he said last night, he almost seemed...depressed.

He might be able to convince Mabel to listen if they could do something to cheer their uncle up. "Hey Mabel."

Mabel stopped stacking the coffee creamers into a pyramid. "Yeah bro-bro?"

"Do you think Stan's acting weird?" he then thought about it for a second. "Well, weirder than usual?"

Mabel balanced her straw on her upper lip. "He seems like his normal weird to me. Why?"

Dipper scratched the back of his neck. "Well before I went up to bed he said something to me and seemed kinda...sad."

The straw fell as she opened her mouth. "What?! Sad?! We gotta do something to cheer him up!" The sweater-clad girl then took out a notepad and started scribbling furiously. "I say we throw him a party with all his favorite things. We'll need money, soda, older ladies-"

"I don't think it's something a party can solve," Dipper interrupted.

Mabel crossed her arms. "Party-pooper..." she mumbled.

Not too long passed before Lazy Susan brought their breakfasts to them. Chocolate chip pankcakes for Mabel and French toast for Dipper, both with sides of bacon. "Here ya go kids. Enjoy!" They both thanked her and started chowing down.

When they had finished breakfast, the duo went to see Soos. He's known Stan the longest of all of them so he might know something. They made their way to the arcade and saw him at the pinball machine with a bag of quarters and a determined look on his face. His score was pretty high but not beating the high score just yet.

"Come on...come on...!" Soos mumbled as he hit the levers and turned the knobs. The ball tossed and turned until eventually it went in the hole at the top, scoring the points he needed to win. "I did it! Whoo-hoo!"

"Yay Soos!" "Way to go man!"

The handyman turned to see his two best friends in the world cheering for him. "Hey dudes!" he greeted, giving them both hi-fives. "What brings you here?"

"We wanted to ask you something," Dipper started, "but we didn't want to interrupt your game." "You did awesome!" Mabel added. Soos grinned sheepishly. "Thanks dudes," he laughed before taking out his phone. "Can you take a pic of the score? I wanna show it to Melody when we talk tonight." Mabel agreed immediately and took several pictures of Soos next to the machine, asking him to try out different poses before handing him his phone back.

"Thanks Mabel. So whatdya wanna talk about?" Soos inquired. "Um, maybe we shouldn't discuss this here."

The trio went out back behind the arcade so they could talk privately. Dipper started the conversation. "There's something weird going on with Grunkle Stan and it has to do with today. You've know and worked with him the longest. Do you know anything?" Dipper asked. Soos blinked a few times before taking out a packet of gum and slowly unwrapped it.

"Sorry dude. I don't know much." he said before he began chewing. "It's best not to ask about this stuff, y'know?"

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Wait, so something DID happen?" "Was it bad?" Mabel questioned.

"Dudes, I swear I don't know anything. In the ten years I've known Mr. Pines he always gets sad around this time of year and wants to be alone," he quipped, chewing loudly. Dipper pondered this for a moment. This was something big that he had to figure out. If he and Mabel could learn what happened on this day years ago, maybe it'd help Grunkle Stan.

"Soos, when do you have to meet Melody?"

Soos pondered. "Five o'clock. Why?"

Dipper gave a wry grin. "We're going to the library."


	3. Chapter 3

"So why're we at the library?" Mabel piped up as she brought over another stack of newspapers. Dipper didn't answer at first since he was organizing each pile of papers by year. The group had claimed a private room in the back for a few hours while they began their research. Once Soos had brought the last stack, he answered.

"Maybe if we look at the newspapers from the past few decades around this time of year, we might be able to figure out what could've happened." He then opened a paper. "I'll start looking from this pile. Mabel and Soos? You two start looking through those piles. If you find anything, let me know. If nothing comes up, just put it to the side so we can put it away later." Dipper glanced up at Soos. "When you have to go, it's okay. I know you wanna see Melody today."

Soos gave a small smile. "I've got time before I gotta go. But thanks dude."

Dipper smiled back and he began turning the pages with Mabel and Soos following suit.

Hours passed and the group was starting to grow weary. Mabel had begun reading the comics in the backs of the issues, laughing to keep herself from growing bored. Soos nearly fell asleep after around 20 papers. Even Dipper was starting to lose steam by this point.

"Guys...I'm not finding much. You?"

Mabel looked up from her comics. "Nope"

Soos snapped awake. "Uh-uh- Wait. Check this out." He pulled the paper off of his face and handed it to Dipper. Dipper placed it on the table and his eyes bugged out. "Whoa! Take a look at this!"

_TRAGEDY STRIKES LOCAL BUSINESS_

_Mysterious disapperance after an accident at a local tacky souvenir shop. A fire had started in the basement and while two survivors of a research team were discovered unconcious on the grounds of the Mystery Shack, one member was never found. While no evidence was found of him dying, there was no evidence of him still being on the premises._

_"I-I don't recall what happened. It's all a blur..."_

_These were the words of Fiddleford McGucket, local researcher, who was still shaken after being cared for in the hospital. Stanford Pines, owner of the Mystery Shack, was less willing to make a statement. No one knows what caused the accident or why it happened but it surely has effected these two men to their core._

Dipper sat back in his chair, hand held to his head in disbelief. Mabel gasped at the revelation and Soos was still trying to process all of this. No wonder Stan would be upset on this day. Most likely a close friend of his was taken from him along with the fire itself being traumatic. It also gave a new light on why Old Man McGucket would want to forget what had happened since he worked with whoever this person was. It could be the author.

"That's some heavy stuff..." Soos said, breaking the tension. The twins nodded in agreement, Mabel clinging close to Dipper while he patted her back. "Poor Grunkle Stan..." she muttered. Dipper frowned, feeling a whirlwind of emotions going on in his mind. Confusion at this whole new mystery, relief that they had found SOMETHING that answered most of their questions, concern about the danger that someone in their family was in, and determination in wanting to help their uncle.


	4. Chapter 4

Once the twins had said goodbye to Soos who rushed home to see Melody, they made their way back to the diner so Stan could pick them up. It was a pretty quiet wait mostly with Dipper thinking and Mabel looking through some of the books she check out. "Heehee. These Kelvin and Herbs comics are so funny!" Mabel laughed flipping through each page.

Dipper look at her oddly. "So you're not upset we spent most of the day in the library?" he asked.

"Are you kidding Dipper? I got to find collections of some of my favorite comics!" she exclaimed before giving her brother a softer look. "Besides, if we get to help Grunkle Stan, that's another bonus. And I can give him a happy sticker on my chart." She held up her little notepad with little doodles of everyone from the shack. Dipper couldn't help but smile at this. For all of Mabel's goofy behavior, she was such a good person wanting to have people be happy. Heck, Robbie and Tambry were a happy couple now because of her.

"Yeah...you're right. And thanks," Dipper replied. Mabel thwapped him on the shoulder before saying "you're welcome."

It didn't take long for Stan to pick the two up and he seemed to be in his regular spirits but Dipper could tell his eyes were red either from exhaustion since he was working all day or from crying. But he was doing a good job of hiding it.

"So," Stan started as they took the drive home, "how was your day?"

"Uh...pretty good," Dipper replied, Mabel nodding in agreement. "Yeah! We got to hang out with Soos!" Mabel piped up.

"Sounds like a good day," Stan grinned. The Pines' twins nodded quickly. Before they arrived at the diner after leaving the library, they agreed to keep what they learned a secret. If Stan was still keeping things from them, they should keep this from him for the time being. Hopefully things would be back to normal for Stan tomorrow.

After dinner, which was something Stan made but everyone agreed on ordering a pizza, they all spent some time in the living room together. Mabel read some of her new comics to Waddles who was a pretty good listener, Stan had put in a new movie and was making snarky comments as it goes on, and Dipper was pouring over the article he discovered in the library and made copies of it along with some other articles that might be useful to figuring things out.

"I'm gonna hit the john," Stan yawned as he paused the movie to get up and leave. "Save my spot okay?" When he was out of earshot, Dipper motioned for Mabel to come closer. "What'd you find bro-bro?"

"Some tabloid clippings from the Gravity Falls Gazette," Dipper replied. "I guess that's when Toby's paper was legitimate," Mabel commented. Dipper snorted. "Yeah. But there are some things that do add up. 'Mysterious Visitor Arrives in Gravity Falls'? 'Weird Lights Come From Mystery Shack In The Night'? These are clues that might help answer some of the questions we have."

Mabel picked up one of the tabloids. "I don't think there's a name or anything. How're you gonna find out anything about this guy?" Dipper gave a quick grin. "I'll tell you later. Stan's coming back." He hid the articles under today's paper while Mabel went back to playing with Waddles as Stan sat back down. There had to be a way to find out what's going on with their uncle and one way or another, they were going to find out.


End file.
